US denies China’s claim of ‘weaponising’ visa decisions for Washington space meeting

Vice-chairman of China’s space administration, Wu Yanhua, misses International Astronautical Congress panel after visa approved too late

US ‘rejects Chinese foreign ministry’s unfounded and baseless characterisation of US visa policies’, state department says

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A Chinese official missed out on most of the International Astronautical Congress because of a visa problem. Photo: Nasa

Published: 4:15pm, 26 Oct 2019Updated: 4:15pm, 26 Oct 2019

The United States on Friday rejected Chinese accusations that political motives were behind a top Beijing space official not receiving a visa in time to attend the start of an international conference in Washington this week.

Wu Yanhua, vice-chairman of the China National Space Administration, was the only official absent from the International Astronautical Congress panel on Monday, which included heads of space agencies from Germany, Russia, India, the US, France and Japan.

The Chinese official attended the conference on Friday, its last day, after receiving a visa.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday that the US was “weaponising the visa issue, repeatedly disregarding its international responsibilities and obstructing normal international exchanges and cooperation”.

US state department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said: “The United States rejects the Chinese foreign ministry’s unfounded and baseless characterisation of US visa policies toward China,” adding that it was against the law to discuss individual visa cases.

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